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THE OCCASION OF THE 
CELEBRATION OF THE 
lOOTH ANNIVERSARY 
OF AMERICAN INDE- 
PENDENCE IN BROOK- 
LYN, N. Y , JULY 3-4. 
1876. 








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Centennial Celebration 

in Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Elnhorjiti" piH'piU'iitioiis wci'c mi\C\v l)y tlu- .Muiiicipiilitv of 
Brooklyn. X. Y., upon July 'SA. 1876. to celebrate the lOOth 
Anniversary of American Independence on Port Greene, the 
historic scene of one of the early battles of the Revolu- 
tion. In the words of the Official Committee, "aecommoda- 
tions were made for seating five thousand people, and stand, 
ing room for at least two hiuulred thousand. A platform 
had been erected in front of the iMartyrs' Tomb, facing the 
Plaza," for the :\rayor and the Orator, the City Officials and 
specially invited guests. "Long before the hour for the 
ceremonies to begin, all the seats were taken and every inch 
of standing room occupied." General T. S. Catlin had been 
invited by the .Mayor and Commonalty of the city to deliver 
the oration. Aldernuni Francis B. P'ish(u\ Chairman of the 
Committee of Arrangements, introduced Mayor Frederick 
A. Schroeder as the presiding officer, who made a l)rief and 
appropriate address, after which he introduced "'the orator 
of the evening. General Isaac R. Catlin." 

ORATION. 

:\Ir. :\Iayor and Fellow-Citizens — I wonld not if I conld. 
and I conld not if I wonld. attempt to conceal the 
emotions of gratitnde that fill my heart at having been se- 
lected to address snch a magnificent assemblage npon snch a 
momentons occasion. And while I gratefully recognize the 
honor bestowed npon me by the partiality of my fellow-citi- 
zens. I have also humbly to confess my weakness when con- 
fronting the vastness of themes which press upon me for 
consideration. This is no ordinary occasion; this is no com- 
mon spectacle. It is not, however, the multitude assembled 
here, not the inspiring strains of music that delight the ear. 
not the brilliant pyrotechnic display that dazzles the sight. 



which alone give character and significance to this gather- 
ing. Something more majestic and impressive gives import- 
ance to the occasion. A great epoch in the history of the 
world is near at hand. To-night the nation is in travail — to- 
morrow she will give birth to a New Century. The hearts of 
forty millions of people are throbbing with joy as the glad 
hour approaches. All over this land, and wherever the 
spirit of Liberty is cherished, to-morrow's sun will bring glad- 
ness and exultation. The people of thirty-seven great States 
will kneel around a common altar, under the resplendent 
folds of a common flag, and, forgetting all else, will pledge 
anew "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor" to 
transmit this magnificent inheritance of Freedom, unim- 
paired to their children and their children's children. 

A century of Republican government ! An hundred years 
of government "of the people, by the people, for the peo- 
ple!" A marvel of history! No longer an experiment, no 
longer an Utopian scheme, no longer a dream of the theorist, 
but a firm, fixed, accomplished, unalterable fact — a City set 
on a hill that cannot be hid. Conceived in Liberty and 
founded in Justice, sustained and nourished by the gentle, 
yet powerful influence of laws and by the divine sentiment 
that all men are created equal, the American Republic has 
grown from a rude, imperfect, simple structure, to a strong, 
symmetrical, stupendous edifice, whose broad foundations 
and magnificent proportions are impregnable alike against 
the assaults of enemies without or malcontents within. For- 
eign powers may predict the downfall and decay of our insti- 
tutions, and foreign potentates may scoff at repre- 
sentative government as here illustrated, but the 
Republic will stand. Sedition may disturb the public tran- 
quility ; insurrection may raise its bloody hand ; desperate 
men may unfold the banner of rebellion ; aye, treason itself 
may lift its hydra head and attempt to overthrow the Gov- 
ernment, but the Republic will stand. Call me superstitious 
if you please, call me a fatalist if you choose ; I believe this 
Western land of ours was decreed by Almighty God to be a 
Land of Liberty, was dedicated to be the asylum of the op- 
pressed of all nations. I believe that as God protected and 
saved the children of Israel and led them safely through the 
Red Sea, so has His special providence saved and protected 
this people and led them safely through the red sea of revo- 
lution and rebellion, and will at last lead them safely through 
the black sea of venality and corruption in which they are 
now struggling. 



Tlie discovery of this country seems like an inspiration of 
Deity; and Avhat but the Divine Spirit could have impelled 
menand women to leave the delights of home and neighbor- 
hood to encounter the perils of ocean to reach this land? 
What but the Divine symi)athy could have upheld them in 
the dangers and solitude of an unbroken wilderness, among 
the haunts of savage beasts and still more savage men ? Oh ! 
my fellow citizens, they preferred liberty in a hovel to tyran- 
ny in a palace. They came here to be free and independent. 
They came here to drink from the pure spring of liberty— 
to speak, to act, to believe, to worship as their consciences 
ilictated. The first breeze that reached them as they ap- 
])roached this new land was laden with the incense of lib- 
erty; and when they landed here they found that freedom 
was indigeiu)us to the very soil and climate. It was in the 
air. the sea, the land, the wood, the streams; aye. the very 
.sunlight from heaven was radiant with its beams. Is it 
strange, then, that a land thus discovered, thus christened, 
thus consecrated, should to-day be the glory of the earth? 
Is it marvelous that generations thus born, thus nursed, thus 
reared, should at last grow up to be champions of liberty and 
free government? Is it wonderful that in such a land the 
first gradual encroachments of feudal customs and feudal 
laws should have been resisted, and at last driven back to 
the abodes of tyranny where they belonged? Is it wonder- 
fid, when the strong arm of Royalty, backed up by ships of 
war and reinforced by battallions of soldiery, seized their 
cities and blockaded their ports, that they resolved to suffer 
beggarv and famine, insult and violence, rather than sur- 
render "the precious boon of liberty? And is it wonderful, 
when to beggary and famine, to insult and oppression, was 
added the cold blooded nuirder of unoffending citizens, that 
plain, i^lodding men. in an instant became heroes, and mild- 
mannered women were filled with more than Spartan cour- 
age, and that the continent became a camp of heroes and 
heroines in a day? Is it a marvel when Jonas Barker aiul 
Isaac :Mussev, Robert Monroe and Jonathan Harrington. 
Samuel Iladlev and John Brown were slain upon the com- 
luons at Lexington, that three millions of people, with faces 
u])turned to heaven, in one grand chorus, cried, "Woe to the 
hand that shed this costly ])lood?" Oh, no! They would 
have been untrue to their faith, untrue to their consciences, 
untrue to their traditions, untrue to their God. had they 
done less. And right here was the unwritten Declaration 
of ludepeiulence. Six murdered men on the green at Lex- 



6 



ington ; six pale faces in the grey of the early morning; six 
litth^ mounds of earth in the old church yard; these tell the 
story of American Independence more thrillingly than the 
most eloquent tongue or the most graphic pen. 

Lexington was no battle, though art and poetry and elo- 
quence have immortalized it as a conspicuous event of war. 
But it was of vastly greater importance and significance 
than a battle — it was pregnant Avith bigger consequences 
than any display of military genius or strategy. Parliamen- 
tary encroachment was hateful to the patriots, but it had 
been long endured ; the Stamp Act and Port Act stirred up 
the indignation of the people, but not to a resort to arms ; 
taxation without representation aroused the resentment of 
the colonists, but they would, perhaps, have trusted to time 
for a repeal or modification of that obnoxious measure; but 
when these parliamentary outrages were supplemented by 
red-handed murder, in the name of a foreign King, ]\Iinute 
men of Liberty sprang up in every hamlet and town, in every 
valley and on every hill-top, to avenge the blood of their 
l)rethren. The news of the massacre flew upon the wings 
of the wind to the people of all the colonies, and with one 
united voice they shouted defiance across the Atlantic to the 
tyrant upon his throne, and then and there, before God, pro- 
claimed their freedom and independence forever. True, the 
formal Declaration of Independence, with its pomp and cir- 
cumstance, its solenui ceremony and its splendid recital of 
grievances, did not occur until more than a year after this 
tragical event ; yet in the hearts of the American colonists 
independ'cnce was proclaimed when the first hostile shot of 
the royal army struck down an American patriot. 

I yield to no one in my veneration of those illustrious men 
who framed and signed, and formally issued to the world, 
the Declaration of Independence. It was, indeed, the great 
charter of our rights and principles, as well as the great 
exposition of our wrongs and grievances. It "ought to be 
hung up in the nursery of every King, and blazoned on the 
porch of every Royal Palace." But I cannot forget the suf- 
ferings and sacrifices of the people. I cannot forget that 
they were far in advance of the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence. I cannot forget the irrefutable fact, that the 
American Revolution emanated from the people alone. 
"While the sages, the statesmen and philosophers hesitated 
and pondered, "like men to double business bound." the 
people, the rustic heroes, incited by the simplest, the highest. 



the surest iiisthiets. mounted the steed of flame, and jHirsned 
the enemies of their eonntry. 

Franklin tokl Chatham that " he never had heard from 
anv iierson the h'ast expression of a wish for a separation 
fr()m Great Britain." Washington said that "no such thing 
as independence was desired by any thinking man in Ameri- 
ca." Jefferson said "he never heard a whisper of a disposi- 
tion to separate from Great Britain until after April ]9, 
1775." John Adams said "it was the greatest slander on 
the province of Massachusetts to say that there were any 
who longed for independence." At this day you will hardly 
believe that such sentiments were uttered by these illustri- 
ous men. It seems almost sacrilege to repeat their own 
words, tlumgh deliberately nttered but a few months before 
the occasion of the Declaration of Independence, in which 
they figured so conspicuously. But it shows that then, as 
now, as it always has been, as it always will be, the men of 
learning, the popnlar leaders and statesmen are behind the 
people. Franklin and Washington, Jefferson and Adams 
were no exception. Tliey were not up with the people. 
They had not correctly felt the pulse of the people. They 
were not near enough to them to feel the full, patriotic pul- 
sation of their hearts. They were noble patriots, but were 
deeply engrossed with negotiations looking towards concili- 
ation with the King and with Parliament. They loved liberty, 
and desired free government; but they were striving to 
avert the terrible calamity of war, even at the sacrifice of 
independence and freedom. But the people, the earnest, 
honest people, went to the front, as they always do in great 
])rogressive movements, and forced the issue. It was the 
conmion people who uncomplainingly suffered beggary and 
fiimine when the port of Boston was blockaded. It was the 
laboring people, the brave, honest sons of toil, who unflinch- 
ingly bared their bosoms to the deadly missiles of the <Miemy 
at Lexington. It was the nprising of the people, without 
leaders or generals, which drove the invaders from Concord. 
It was four score hardy Green Mountain boys, under the 
lead of the gallant Ethan Allen, who undertook and accom- 
plished an enterprise that has scarcely a parallel for per- 
sonal daring in the history of warfare. Undisciplined and 
inexperienced in arms, these eighty heroes attacked a for- 
midable fortress, constructed by the most eminent engi- 
neers, defended by a company of regular soldiers; and in 
twertv minutes from the command "to charge." it was snr- 
rendered to Allen, who had demanded it "in the name of 



the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." 

So, I repeat, that long before the Declaration of Independ- 
ence was formally issned from Independence Hall, the great 
mass of the American colonist had distinctly and irrevocably 
declared themselves free and independent, and had com- 
menced the strnggle which resulted in the establishment of 
that freedom and independence. They kept alive the spirit 
of liberty; they led the great column of advancing civiliza- 
tion ; they ushered in the hour of human emancipation. Had 
legislators and statesmen kept pace with the spirit of the 
people, it is my firm conviction that the Revolution would 
have begun and ended years before it did, and with infinitely 
less loss of life and treasure. So. in the War of the Rebel- 
lion, had the President and IMinistry, the Lawmakers and 
Generals, caught inspiration from the people, and acted 
promptly, vigorously and fearlessly; had the Proclamation 
of Emancipation been issued as the first great war measure, 
the rebellion would have been crushed in ei,*fhteen months, 
and millions of debt, and thousands of precious lives would 
have been saved. But Lincoln and Seward, and their com- 
peers — noble, generous and patriotic though they were — 
fried diplomacy with the slave power, as Franklin and 
Washington and Jefferson tried conciliation with the throne 
power, and with the same unhappy result. 

But let me not longer mar the grandeur of this Centennial 
occasion liy a spirit of criticism. I have said this much in 
justice to those who always stand the shock and brunt of 
battle, v/ho are foremost in every struggle for reform and 
progress. but v/hose deeds are seldom sung by 
the poet or eulogized by the oratiu*. I trust 
I shall not be classed with demagogues when I say 
that I have always been and shall always be an earnest ad- 
vocate for the rights and dignity of the laboring people. It 
is the peculiar glory of this Government that it has dignified 
labor, and elevated the laboring classes, and to-day the men 
who are dearest to the American heart are the men who earn 
their bread by the sw(nit of the brow. They are, indeed, the 
salt of the earth. "The history of our country is their his- 
tory; the renown of our country is their renown ; the bright- 
ness of their doings is emblazoned on its every page." And, 
thank God, they can never be corrupted. The highest offi- 
cers of Government may fall short of duty; cabinet minis- 
ters may be impeached for venality; legislators may prosti- 
tute themselves to the God of INIammon ; official depravity 
may penetrate into all the departments of Government for a 



time. yet. as long as labor is honora])le, as long as laboring 
men are honest and intelligent and trne to their traditions, 
as long as the great system of common schools is part of our 
civil polity, as hmg as the ballot box is kept inviolate, the in- 
tegrity of our institutions will be preserved, the great Avars 
for Independence and Union "will not have been in vain," 
and freedom and free government will not "perish from the 
<^arth.'" 

Fellow-citizens, we are standing upon the thres- 
liold of a second century, and the night is fast spreading its 
pall over the bier of our first-born. Standing in the sombre 
shadows of the one, and looking towards the gleaming lights 
of the other, the mind is bewildered, the imagination is per- 
plexed, the tongue is dumb. If the past and present are an 
earnest of the future, what scenes of wonder and enchant- 
ment are in store for our posterity! For one hundred years 
we have heard the steady tramp, tramp of progress to the 
tune of Liberty and the Union, and for a hundred years to 
come, aye, down through unuuml)ered ages. we. and those 
who come after us, will hear the same steady tramp to the 
same thrilling music. 

Before the beginning of the century which is now draw- 
ing to a close, progress had been paroxysmal. A day of 
light was quickly followed by a night of gloom. Great and 
good men. whose examples and deeds were beneficent, ap- 
peared for a day. to be succeeded by the vicegerents of the 
Evil One. All along through the centuries were scattered 
here and there oases in the deserts of ignorance and super- 
stition; but they could not be reached by the millions wlio 
were groping in darkness and desolation. ]\Ien were born 
at intervals that left us rich legacies of eloquence and 
poetry, of art and philosophy. Great captains lived whose 
grand achievements and mighty conquests are the Avonder 
of the soldier and the student of the present time; but it 
was not until the commencement of tlie Democratic move- 
ment in America that the human race ])egan its grand 7narch 
towards the fulfillment of its high destiny. 

Until God gave wisdom to men to declare that all men 
are created free and equal, with the inalienable rights of 
life, liberty and the pnrsuit of happiness, there was a block in 
the great wheel of progress. Until a government was or- 
(lained that repudiated the blasphemous doctrine of Divine 
Right and hereditary privileges; that recognized the uidim- 
ited sovereignty of the peoi)le; that recognized as a funda- 
mental trutii tliat all virtue, all intelligence and all Avisdom 



10 



could be found only in all the people; until manhood and in- 
dividual merit, rather than the accident of birth, were the 
passjoort to distinction ; until the broad fields of action were 
thrown wide open to individual effort, there existed insur- 
mountable barriers to the expansion of civilization. But 
when this great democratic movement began, when these 
great truths were declared, when these great principles were 
incorporated into constitutional government, a new and un- 
exampled impetus was given to progress in every depart- 
ment of human alfairs. And their beneficent influence was 
not confined to our own country or our own continent. It 
was not circumscribed by boundaries of States or nations, 
by distinctions of race, or diversities of language, lint it 
spread far and wide into all nations, and among all peoples 
wherever intuitions of liberty existed, and wherever mind 
and conscience were struggling for wider development and 
larger empire. And for one hundred years it has been 
marching steadily forward, ever increasing, ever expand- 
ing, until to-day it is the universal verdict of mankind, that 
no former century, no not all the centuries of tlie past, have 
yielded such prodigious results in social progress, in politi- 
cal thought, and in industrial pursuits as that which is just 
passing away. 

In our OAvn land these results have been most amazing. 
Three millions of people have multiplied into forty millions. 
Thirteen impoverished colonies have multiplied into thirty- 
seven magnificent empires. The white wings of their com- 
merce, sweep across every lake and every sea. Railroads 
thunder through every valley and over every mountain, 
ribbing and welding the nation together with iron bands. 
The telegra]~)h. with wings of lightning, carries our thoughts 
and words in a flash to the remotest lands. By its magic 
power the merchants of Berlin and New York, of London 
and San Francisco, speak to each other as if face to face; 
and friends, separated by expanse of ocean and stretch of 
land, converse together as though at the morning meal. 

In every department of industry the most marvellous ad- 
vances have been made. Inventive genius has almost trans- 
formed the face of nature, so that in very truth old things 
have been done away, and all things have become new. The 
"iron gates" of the mountain have been opened, the deep 
bowels of the earth have been penetrated, the rugged caves 
of the ocean have been explored, and rich streams of wealth 
and golden treasure have flowed therefrom into the laps of 
the people and the coffers of the nation. 



Tlio "o'iaiit brood" of useful arts — the cotton giu, the 
sewing nuichine, the mowing, the reaping, the threshing ma- 
chine — are all the inventions of our own country and our 
own countrymen during the last century, and have super- 
seded the old drudgery of the needle and of agriculture, and 
lifted it up into the region of refined and skilled labor. Our 
institutions of learning are among the master works of the 
century. They have grown commensurately with the 
growth and expansion of our country, and are adapted to 
the genius and spirit of our form of government. Our sys- 
tem of public schools is peculiarly the result of Republican 
institutions, and to-day is the hope of the Republic. Coeval 
with our political system, they are deeply intrenched in the 
heai'ts of the American people, and are as dear to them as 
liberty itself. Colleges, academies, and private literary in- 
stitutions are well. They are. indeed, a chief glory of our 
eountr>-. From them come forth many of our noblest 
statesmen, our wisest philosophers, our sweetest poets and 
our most distinguished men of science. But they are inac- 
cessible to the millions of our youth, while our public schools 
are accessible to all. In them the rich and the poor, the 
high and low, the black and white, the native born and 
those from foreign climes, can enter and be fitted to per- 
form all the duties of highest citizenship. As we value our 
national existence we must protect the common schools; 
for as long as they are part of our social and political sys- 
tem, so long will intelligence and virtue be disseminated 
among the people, and so long will our Government be 
stabl(> and steadfast. God bless and prosper the common 
schools of the land! The Press of the country has become 
an agent of immense power and influence. In the words of 
a Brooklyn journalist, "there is nothing in America more 
marvellous and more thoroughly American than the enter- 
prise of the leading journals. It is within the bounds of 
truth to say that more money is spent in one day by any one 
of the chief metropolitan dailies in collecting telegraphic 
news from all the ends of the earth, than is expended by all 
the newspapers of England in a month." What a brilliant 
page in the history of the dying century ! What an elo- 
quent exhibit to jiresent to the world in favor of the sub- 
stantial merits of Republican institutions. For the press 
of America is the great popular educator and schoolmaster. 
It is tlie Prophet, Priest and King of modern times. It cre- 
ates, modifies and changes public sentiment. It stands 
ready to grap]ile with the monsters of vice Avherever they 



12 



may expose their hideous shapes. No station is so higfh that 
it cannot reach it, no position is so degraded that it cannot 
descend to it. No temple is so sacred, no shrine so holy, that 
they can escape its searching scrntiny. It audaciously as- 
cends the throne and exposes the folly of Kings ; it mounts 
into the chair of State and boldly uncovers the weakness of 
administration ; it climbs into the pulpit and tears off the 
mask from the face of hypocrisy ; it scales the seat of Justice, 
and lays bare the wickedness and crimes of mercenary judges. 
Daring, bold, aggressive, unjust sometimes, subject to great 
almses, yet held to a strict accountability, the influence of 
the press has been of incalculable benefit, not only as the 
great teacher of the masses, but in directing public opinion 
in the midst of important events involving the hope and des- 
tiny of the nation. 

These, fellow-citizens, are some of the triumphs of the last 
century in America — triumphs of mind, of reason, of truth, 
of principle. Other nations may boast of splendid navies 
and mighty armies ; of great conquests on sea and land ; of 
cities devastated, and fields laid waste. But our greatest 
conquests, our most prized victories, are conquests of science, 
of philanthropy, of civilization, are the victories of peace 
and good will towards men. 

And yet no nation on the face of the earth has a brighter 
record in the field or on the sea than our own. Indeed, she 
was born in the blaze and tumult of battle. She is the off- 
spring of victorious war. Associated with her fiag, so 
radiant and beautiful to-night, are the most renowned and 
heroic achievements. That flag, the ensign of our nationali- 
ty, the symbol of our liberty, has never yet gone down before 
an enemy, and by the help of Almighty God, it never will. A 
century ago three millions of people tore down the far- 
famed banner of St. George, and in its stead lifted up and 
unfurled the Stars and Stripes, and forty millions of people 
to-day, and untold millions of the future, will uphold and 
defend them, and all they represent, until human institu- 
tions and human governments shall be no more. But our 
military and naval achievements were not the work of 
standing armies and navies. Our armies and navies sprung 
spontaneously from the masses — v/ere the organized patri- 
otism of the country. I do not mean to disparage the skill, 
the efficiency and ability of our regular Army and Navy. 
They are the nucleus around which the patriotism of the 
country has rallied, and }fy whose examples and precepts 
great armies and navies have been organized and disciplined 



13 



witli astonishing' expedition. IJut in j^'reat crises, in times 
of great national peril, sneli as have suddenly overtaken our 
country, the volunteer soldiery, infiueneed hy sentiments of 
patriotism, have been her greatest bulwark and her surest 
dependeuce. And, yet, every right thinking man, every 
man who appreciates the glories of the past, the grandeur 
of the present, and the still grander possibilitiesof the future, 
must be proud of the history of our little army and navy, 
for it is a history of })erils and patriotism, a history of suf- 
f('ring and sacrifice. True, it is a history of warfare, a his- 
tory of lilood. But some of the most brilliant pages in the 
annals of the country are the bloodiest pages. The bright- 
est pages are those whereon are written the deeds of our 
Washingtons, our Putnams, our Scotts, our Grants, our 
Shermans and our Farraguts. The proudest names inscribed 
on the pillars of fame are the names of our great war-heroes. 
Familiar as household words though they are, lisped 
though they are by infant lips at every fireside, yet the 
mention of their loyal names always kindles a flame in the 
heart of every patriot. Strike out the name of Washing- 
ton and his great deeds as a soldier, what a glorious light 
goes out ! Strike out the name of Scott, what a ])right page 
in history is blotted frt)m the record! Strike out the 
name of Grant, and the name and fame of our greatest sol- 
dier disappear! Strike out the name of Sherman, him of 
the eagle plume, with his grand march to the sea, and we 
lose the most brilliant military feat recorded in history. 
Strike out the name of Sheridan, the "lightning-eyed" 
Sheridan, with his famous ride from Winchester, and you 
extinguish one of the most marvellous, dashing, dazzling 
personal victories known to warfare. Strike out the name 
of Thomas, "old Reliability" Thomas, and his gallant re- 
sistance at Nashville, and you wipe out a name that has 
shed imperishable lustre on the American nation. Strike 
out the name of Hooker, fighting Joe Hooker, and his charge 
up the steeps of Lookout Mountain, and we lose one of the 
most perilous and successful assaults ever made by an army. 
Strike out the name of Farragut. his loyalty to the flag, and 
his unparalleled ex])loits on the I'ivers and seas, and you lose 
a space in modern history that never could be filled. Strike 
out the names of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and 
their grand exploits on Southern battle fields, and you rob a 
brave but misguided people of an inheritance which is their 
pride and glory. And all of these names illumine the past 
and present r(»gister of the Regular Army and Navy. Illus- 



14 



trious names, mv countrymen, fitting names to be mention- 
ed in this great assemblage, on this patriotic occasion ! 

I shall not, at this Centennial time,- when, if ever, the 
largest philanthropy should be exercised and the greatest 
magnanimity should be shown, attempt to tear open wounds 
which the gentle intiuences of time and circumstance are 
fast healing. Sure of the fruits of the late war, proud of 
the new glory it has shed upon the nation, exultant that no 
slave or shackle mocks the name of freedom, I have re- 
spectfully, aye, reverently, mentioned the names of the two 
leading military heroes of the South. It is enough for me 
that we are all Americans — that our country is saved, that 
our country is one. It is enough for me that to-morrow we 
shall all read the same Declaration of Independence, cloth- 
ed in all its neM^ glory and new significance. Men of the 
North, men of the South, men of the blue and men of the 
gray, I greet you as Americans all ! I give you joy, that 
after the pains and throes of civil strife, after the shock and 
uproar of battle, the old iiag of the stars and stripes is our 
common flag still, that the old Union, no, not the old, but 
the new ITnion, without a fetter or a bondsman, is our com- 
mon Union. My enemy of 1861, my brother of to-day! I 
stretch out my hand over no bloody chasm, over no line of 
dead, but over a common country to clasp your hand in the 
fine, sweet spirit of patriotism; and I conjure you for the 
sake of the honor, the glory and perpetuity of the Union, to 
take it in the same spirit. I implore you to let the dead past 
bury its dead, and remember with me the prophetic words of 
America's greatest statesman, that it is to that Union ''we 
owe our safety at home and our consideration and dignity 
abroad." 

Fellow-citizens of Brooklyn, this scene, this great throng, 
this vast concourse of human faces, glowing with pride and 
patriotism, has no uncertain meaning. Indeed, he who runs 
may read. It impressively illustrates the imperial senti- 
ra(!nt of Americanism — a sentiment that knows no party, no 
section, no creed, and no nationality. Though I see around 
me men of every party, of every creed and nationality; 
though I see Democrat and Republican ; though I see Catho- 
lic and Protestant; though I see the countrymen of Lafay- 
ette, of Steuben, of ^lontgomery and Pulaski ; though I see 
men who have abandoned the lands of their birth, the 
lands of their fathers ; who have left friend and kindred and 
patrimony, yet I see them all here uniting as one man, as 
one common brotherhood, in observing this great memorial 



15 



service. 

I am not here as the panegyrist of any nationality. I 
know no German, no Irishman, no Frenchman. I know 
none bnt Americans. The bh)od of all has flowed in the 
same stream and drenched the same tield. I have seen them 
all on the same battle gronnd. baring their breasts with 
Trojan heroism to storms of shot and shell, standing nn- 
dannted and undismayed in the midst of gore and carnage. 

On this occasion we would be unfaithful to duty, false to 
a proper sense of obligation, did we not undeterred by fear 
of criticism, give special honor where honor is so eminently 
due. The gentlemen of the Brooklyn Centennial Union are 
entitled to our profoundest gratitude for their intelligent 
appreciation of this commemorative event. To them is due 
the credit of the conception, and largely the successful con- 
summation of this magnificent demonstration. At great 
sacrifice of time, of money, of material interests, they have 
for weeks concentrated their efforts in preparing for this 
celebration; and now, with the liberal aid of the Municipal 
authorities, the prompt and patriotic co-operation of the 
military organizations and civic societies, all under the skill- 
ful management of a gallant Brooklyn soldier. General 
James Jourdan, they have presented to us the most imposing 
scene, the most inspiring spectacle, we have ever beheld. 
Art has lent her fairest decorations ; the great industries 
have clasped the hand of Art; music has blended with both 
her grandest themes ; poetry has followed with her inspiring 
verse, and all combined have given us a patriotic jubilee 
befitting the city, befitting the historical imj^ortance of the 
time and occasion 

And. citizens of Brooklyn, Ave have the highest reasons to 
celebrate this day and this event. We would have been '' de- 
generate sons of illustrious sires" had we passed them by 
without appropriate commemoration. No city in the Union 
has been more prospered by the success of the Revolution 
than ours. No city in the nation has grander memories or 
holier associations of the times that tried men's souls than 
ours. Every clod and stone is vocal with patriotic reminis- 
cences, and every street is redolent wnth the sweetest yet 
saddest recollections. The very lamp-posts are shining 
records of the heroes and battles of 1776. There are pres- 
ent to-night citizens of Brooklyn, the children of men who 
espoused the cause and died in the service of the Revolution, 
who have heard from living lips the thrilling story of the 
advance, the retreat, the rally, the charge, and the final 



16 



glowing victory. 

No city in the Union has brighter evidences of the ad- 
vance of refinement, of culture, of • progress, than ours. 
Prom a little village of 3,000 inhabitants, it has grown to be 
the third city in the Union, with a population of over 400,- 
000. From this hallowed spot we behold the homes of a thrif- 
ty, a happy, a virtuous and an intelligent people. We behold 
the domes of our great municipal buildings, our academies of 
art, our temples of justice. We behold the cupolas of our 
public schools, the spires of a hundred churches, the roofs 
of 10,000 factories. Wherever our eyes may rest, we behold 
the signs of the most advanced civilization. 

But, if we pull aside the veil from the near future for a 
moment, newer wonders and sublimer exhibitions will meet 
our sight. Aye, they already begin to dawn upon our l)ewil- 
dered vision. Look ! What massive towers are they that 
loom up out of the waters of the Bay? For weeks and 
months and years they have been slowly rising, niche upon 
niche, stone upon stone, mass upon mass, until, now, they 
rise up like gray giants preparing for mortal combat. What 
are they, do you say? Why, they are monuments of human 
enterprise, of human skill, and human industry ; and soon, 
hanging upon these mighty columns, stretching over and 
high above the East River, spanning these two great cities, 
will be constructed a broad highway, over which half the 
commerce of the continent will be transported. 

Fellow-citizens, it is almost time for the clock of the cen- 
tury to strike one. It is almost time for the old signal gun 
to announce the new birth. It is almost time to hoist the 
Stars and Stripes, on yonder liag-staff, to wave out the Old 
and wave in the New. It is almost time to begin the grand 
chorus of the "Star Spangled Banner," to ring out the 
chimes of a thousand bells, to fire the salute of a hundred 
guns. You are all on the tip-toe of expectation — you are 
all impatient to behold the grand transformation scene that 
closes the drama of the first century. Your faces, your 
demonstrations, the hour, the patriotic exercises to come, 
admonish me to retire. But one unfinished duty still holds 
me here. An unseen, yet irresistible power rivets me to this 
spot. The air is filled with spectral shapes. Behold ! a 
radiant form clothed in celestial light, descends before the 
tomb of the martyrs. See ! It rolls away the stone from 
the door of the sepulchre. Look ! The door is opened. 
Awake, ye patriotic dead?*^ Come forth, ten thousand mar 
tyrs of the jirison ships! ]\Iount these hills and with one 



\7 



wild wail startle the petritied souls of those who have so long 
neglected voii. Tell them the unwritten story of yourprison 
lives. Teli them of your horrible tortures, your exerueiatmg 
pains; how vou were seourged and starved for the honor of 
your eoiuitrv. Tell them how you died— alone, unwept— 
that thev might live. Tell them for this they owe you grati- 
tude, devotion, worship. Tell them for a century you have 
mouldered in unhonored and unknown graves! Tell them 
for a hundred vears. while the nation has been prospered 
and the eitv blessed, no marble slab or monumental tomb 
has risen to mark your resting place! Tell them this and 
let them refuse yon justice if they dare. 

"Oh. my countrymen! it is we who need a monument to 
their honor; we wlio survive, not having yet proved that we, 
too could die for our country. We need a monument that 
the widows and children of the dead, and the whole coun- 
try, and the shades of the departed and all future ages may 
see' and know that we honor patriotism and virtue, and hb- 
erty and truth; for next to performing a great deed and 
achieving a noble character, is to honor such characters and 
deeds."" 



At the conclusion of General Catlin's address Alderman 
Francis R. Fisher read the memorial relative to the prison- 
shi]i martyrs. 

The following resolution was unanimously adopted: 
"Resolved Tliat a Committee of Twenty-five citizens, with 
authoritv to add to their number, if deemed desirable, be 
appointed bv His Honor the I\Iayor, of which Committee. 
the :^Iavor of the Citv. from time to time, shall be ex-officio 
Chairman. Tlie duty of this Committee shall be to make 
the necessarv arrangements and take early steps looking to 
the raising of a Martvrs' Memorial Fund of $50,000. for the 
erection of a suitable monument on the site of the present 
tomb at Fort Greene, in honor of the Prison Ship Martyrs 

of the Revolution. , - . i ^. ^.^ 

At a given signal the American Flag was hoi.sted to the 

top of the staflf on the Fort, the entire audience .ioinmg m 

singing the "Star Spangled Banner." 

A salute of one hundred guns from the summit of Fort 

Greene concluded the ceremonies, and at about 1 ::^0 A. ^I- 

of Independence Day. the people separated for their homes." 



Mi 

011 782 9^^ ^ 



Record, Owego, N. Y. 



LIBRARY OF CONGF 



011 782 922 



< 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 782 922 4 # 




